A garbage disposal unit is installed under a kitchen sink and receives garbage or food waste disposed through the drain of the sink. The disposal unit comprises a grinding mechanism located within a working chamber which receives the garbage. Flowing water is recommended during operation of the disposal unit to aid movement of the garbage to and through the grinding mechanism. The violent nature of the grinding process means that the water may be splashed back out of the drain opening and sometimes solid items may be expelled as well. For this reason, most disposal units have a splash guard of some form to prevent back splash. However, due to the nature of the device, the splash guard must be able to accept or allow large items of garbage and copious volumes of water to pass down the drain with minimal interference. Most splash guards have a web or baffle made of rubber or similar material which spans across the drain. The baffle has a number of slits to allow segments of the baffle to easily yield to incoming items yet provide some resistance to splashed back items. Most include a central opening which remains open even when the baffle is closed to allow free draining of water. This central opening still allows some splash back as well as noise from the grinding process to escape unimpeded. Indeed, most baffle designs provide only a minimal resistance to splashed back items.
Modern attempts to improve on the slit design use an uncut design in which the baffle is pleated allowing the small central opening to expand easily with downward pressure but remaining small or even contract further with upward pressure. However, this design still has a clear central opening. Such a design is shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,432,108 and 6,719,228, both of which are incorporated by reference in their entireties.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,719,228 shows an improved version in which the baffle is slit about a central hole, but smaller, direct holes are provides at the ends of the slits and additional holes are shown in preferred examples. For that application, an additional baffle is provided.
Thus, there is a need for a baffle for a garbage disposal unit which is simple yet prevents the back splash of water and/or garbage.